Déjà vu
by
Gary W. Burris

I published an article in the Tactical Shooters Club Newsletter in the first quarter of 2003 entitled “Do You Have Bullets?” and the devastation of the Gulf coast by hurricane Katrina brought it back to mind. That article is almost prophetic when you watch events unfold on television in New Orleans and elsewhere in the storm ravaged areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

The rampant lawlessness in New Orleans has proven to me that in a catastrophic event, I will be pretty much on my own and responsible for my own and my family’s safety and well being until the rule of law can be re-established. There are a lot of well-intentioned people out there who will try to come to your aid. There are also a lot of people who will rape, pillage and plunder given the opportunity.

I endeavor to write articles that are not too politically slanted; although, I must admit to being on the conservative side of politics. A lot of what happened in Louisiana is, in my opinion, directly attributable to their politics of the past thirty plus years.

Basically, politicians have created a welfare state in Louisiana. The purpose seems to be to keep the public as dependent on government as they can. This in turn generates votes in order to keep the welfare checks coming and to keep the politicians in office. While politicians are busy working or re-election, they fail to attend to issues that would be of enormous benefit in desperate times.

OK, now for the finger pointing starting at the city government level with the inept mayor and other city officials of New Orleans. They failed to implement the emergency plan they had in place. Perhaps hundreds of lives could have been saved and thousands of people would not have had to endure all the suffering had city government simply acted. After the fact all they can do is point to the state and federal government and say it is their fault.

The state government was no better. It is the governor’s responsibility to activate measures to insure civil order. The governor must ask for federal help, if deemed necessary, and has the authority to send National Guard troops under his or her control to the aid of city or parish governments unable to function. The governor of Louisiana was obviously indecisive and woefully wanting in leadership during this disaster. She failed to take action when needed. The governor was even advised by the federal government to implement action but this plea was taken under advisement until the governor could think about it (weigh the political implications?).

The federal government has culpability here as well. Bureaucracy has complicated the way that the federal government can respond in times of catastrophe. One of my Italian friends has told me about a ship full of pumps that was sent by the Italian government to New Orleans to aid in pumping the water out of that city. It seems that the ship is unable to unload its cargo due to bureaucratic red tape. The same is true for millions of dollars worth of water purifying equipment sent by the Swedish government. At the time of this writing this aid sits unused and unavailable on ships in the Gulf.

This entire longwinded venture into the sluggish response of government to tragedy was done to highlight the need for each of us to be prepared to fend for ourselves when the excrement hits the mechanical wind generating device.

Think About it
by
Unknown

In light of the many perversions and jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke, it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. 

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" (Regarding the attacks on Sept. 11). 

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. 

And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?" 

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. 

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. 

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK. 

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. 

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW." 

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. 

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. 

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.   

Are you laughing? 

2005 IDPA Nationals
by
Gary W. Burris

Congratulations are in order for John May (National Match Director) for another great IDPA National competition. This was the first time for the nationals under the new rulebook and equipment rules. It was the sixth year I’ve worked as a safety officer at the nationals and I’m always amazed at how well everything is organized. The only thing I could say that was a problem was the weather. The day the staff shot the match it was 104 F° and no breeze. Little Rock was setting high temperature records and competitors had to deal with the heat during the match.

The Central Arkansas Shooters Association (CASA) members did their usual wonderful job of preparing the range for this event. CASA will again be the location for the IDPA Nationals when it is held in 2006.

The scenarios were well done this year. There were a few problems with some of the props but most of the bugs were worked out before the match got underway. I walked through all of the scenarios looking for potential safety problems and am happy to say that I didn’t see any that needed fixing.

Johnny Van Etta was unable to attend this year due to work commitments created by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. John May asked me to step up and fill Johnny’s vacant position as Chief Safety Officer for Bay 14. I was thrilled and apprehensive at the same time but things worked out well because I had absolutely the best crew of safety officers on the range. Terry Pregler, Randall Randolph and Mike Grant made everything run like clockwork.